Politico: Recent reports that the Commerce Department failed to take action on Megaspeed, the Singapore-based firm at the center of the spying and chip-smuggling allegations, have intensified scrutiny of the agency’s decisions to allow more foreign chip sales, particularly of Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips. Over the past 24 hours, more than half a dozen Republicans have demanded answers — and potentially congressional testimony – from Lutnick and top deputies over whether they put private tech interests above national security.
“The obvious question is why did he choose to sell advanced chips?,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in an interview Wednesday. “Secretary Lutnick needs to answer that in front of God and country. If I were he, I’d call a press conference this afternoon and explain what happened and why he agreed to sell ‘em chips, and I would stop doing it.”…